In telephone network systems, it is common that an incoming call may require one of several different types of resources. Such resources may include attendants in different departments of the called party's operations, attendants who speak different languages, or attendants who can provide different kinds of information to the caller. As communication becomes more sophisticated, however, the desired resources may include non-human resources such as voice response, voice recognition, DTMF recognition, DTMF generation and call progress recognition and various modems.
In order to accommodate such electronic resources, the electronic resources can be connected to the network and if the resources are shared, the main switching device can allocate each particular call to the proper resource, human or electronic, required by the caller. Typically, it is required to make predictions at system build time concerning the number of each type of resource required by the callers. The result may be, for example, five voice recognition circuits, four DTMF receivers, six voice compressors, three 212A modems and seven 303 modems coupled to the switch along with ten human attendants. A disadvantage of this system is that a call requiring voice recognition cannot completed if all of the voice recognition resources are busy, even if some of the other resources are available. Furthermore, although seven of one particular resource may be adequate the majority of the time, many more may be required at certain times. The owner of the telephone network is, therefore, forced to decide between having a tremendous backlog at certain times and having many of the resources sit idle most of the time.
One attempt to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art system of hardwiring fixed resources includes the use of standard resource boards which are differentiated by instructions fixed, for example, in read only memory (ROM). Thus, the operator of the telephone network informs the manufacturer of the equipment how many of which resources will be needed. The manufacturer then installs the appropriate ROM chip in each resource board and the boards are installed in the network. Each ROM contains instructions directing the digital signal processor on the board to function as a prescribed resource. With such a system, all of the resource boards are the same, enabling them to be manufactured (and sold) less expensively. Only the ROM chips are different for each type of resource. Nonetheless, the network operator must still predict how the various resources should be allocated. Changing the system to meet changing long term needs can be accomplished by having the manufacturer replace the ROM chip. Changing the ROM chips to meet demands of operations which change day-to-day and week-to-week, or even minute-to-minute, simply cannot be done. Thus, a ROM based system is nearly as rigid as one using hardwired, fixed resources.
Consequently, a need has arisen for a telephone system which provides resource modules that can be automatically reconfigured on a predictive or as-needed basis. A further need has arisen for circuitry which can communicate with each resource module and cause it to reconfigure responsive to incoming telephone calls.